(Presented as Part 3 in the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series.) In the last post of this series I talked about Portfolio Management, and how it aims to ensure that a team is always working on the highest priority work, without outside pressure taking their focus away from a manageable goal. Portfolio Management has […]
Beyond Scrum
Portfolio Management
(Presented as Part 2 in the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series.) As mentioned in the introduction to the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series, Scrum is simply the framework and, to work best, other tools and patterns need to be incorporated to build the most effective systems. In many organizations, we see common challenges: […]
Red-Yellow-Green Status Reports and Other Models – How They Should and Shouldn’t Be Used
Red-Yellow-Green status reports are a widely-used tool to help executives have a fast and simple understanding of the current state of a project through a visual model that makes it easy to spot patterns. Green means everything is good, yellow means there’s some risk, and red means the project is in serious trouble. Simple, right? […]
What Are the Limits of the Scrum Framework?
Frequently in workshops, I get asked, “Where shouldn’t we use Scrum?” The short answer is there are lots of instances where the Scrum framework doesn’t fit. However, to give a more complete and effective answer to this question, first we need to have an idea of why and when Scrum does work and what the […]
The Role of Agile Managers: Why Job Titles Are Dangerous
Managers transitioning from waterfall to Agile will need to renegotiate their relationship with their teams if they are to succeed. A manager cannot simply become an Agile Manager – a big part of a transition requires a rethinking of how job titles are assigned and the leadership responsibility that comes with them. I was recently […]
How to Be an Effective Manager in Scrum
You’re a manager. You recently helped implement Scrum in your organization. You have received praise for this, because quality of work is now steadily improving and customers are delighted by the steady stream of product improvements. Your Scrum teams are now self-organizing. Things are flowing so smoothly now, the team has taken on tasks that […]
How to Cross-Skill and Grow T-shaped Team Members
As we discussed in “Specialists Are Overrated,” developing cross-skills and “T-Shaped” people in a team has many benefits – for the team/organization itself, the customer, and the individual. That’s all fine and good to say, but how do you figure out where to start? There are two major ways to discover opportunities for cross-skilling: Kanban/Scrum […]
Specialists Are Overrated
“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” – Agile Manifesto “Watch the baton, not the runner.” – D. Reinertsen, 2007[1] Traditionally, notions of efficiency have been to minimize cost by utilizing experts (i.e. expensive people) only on the most difficult problems and having cheaper workers do […]